Anomalous slow response of liquid crystal/polymer composites at low temperatures and material development for its improvement

Abstract

Liquid crystal/polymer composites (PDLCs) are optical devices that can modulate transparency by applying electric field and are composed of phase-separated polymer and liquid crystal domains as a co-continuous phase. Although PDLCs have already been put to practical use as indoor light-dimming glass, their practical use outdoors has not progressed due to their low electric field responsivity at low temperatures below 0°C. In this study, we fabricate PDLCs using novel analogous monomers with different alkyl chain lengths from those developed by our research group, and aim to verify the electric field responsivity at low temperatures as well as to improve the responsivity.